According to The Independent - Sport, Eddie Hearn described the negotiations as being in the final stages, with the contract expected to be signed soon. The agreement would see Joshua face an opponent in July before taking on Fury in November. Hearn said that once the contract is signed, Alalshikh will decide the location, though Hearn hopes the fight takes place in the UK.
Joshua has been training with Oleksandr Usyk in Ukraine, Hearn revealed, adding that Usyk was involved in discussions about Joshua's comeback. Joshua also survived a car crash in Nigeria in December that killed two of his teammates. Fury, meanwhile, is not expected to fight before facing Joshua. He beat Arslanbek Makhmudov by points in his most recent fight, having been outpointed by Usyk in December 2024, his second loss to Usyk.
We will have a contract, and we haven't signed a contract yet, but we are negotiating the final points in an agreement to come back to the ring in July and [then] fight Tyson Fury.
Hearn expressed optimism about the fight, calling it the biggest in British history. He said that if Joshua wins his warm-up fight, the Fury bout will be a historic event.
Once we sign up for that agreement, it is over to [Saudi adviser Turki Alalshikh] for the staging. We will be promoting for July; I would think that the November fight or whatever it will be, will be promoted by [Saudi company] Sela.
The good news is: if we take a [warm-up] fight like this, we have signed to fight Tyson Fury, and all you've got to do is bite your fingernails in July for 36 minutes or less and you've got not the fight of the century – the fight of all-time.
Myself and AJ, Tyson Fury, we'll have a contract where [Alalshikh] is basically funding the fight. It's up to him where it is.
Now, he also wants to make history; he is not going to put it in some random place. He wants this to deliver for the fans what it is, which is the biggest fight in the history of our country. I am hopeful that the fight takes place in the UK.
I am sure they won't mind me saying it, a lot of this has come from Oleksandr Usyk. He was part of these conversations, and the conversations were absolutely: 'He is having a comeback fight.'